Antibiotic resistance is a global problem mainly due to the overuse of antibiotics in clinical settings. Overuse is mainly caused by the lack of accurate diagnosis that can distinguish bacterial infections from other types of infections. This is especially true for respiratory tract infections and pediatric sepsis. More accurate diagnosis at the time of an initial clinical visit that can distinguish bacterial from other infections would greatly curb the antibiotic overuse problem.
A major advance in stemming the antibiotic crisis would be to have a diagnostic that could readily distinguish a bacterial from viral infection on presentation with symptoms. This would decrease the unnecessary use of antibiotics while still allowing their application optimally for bacterial infections. Current research on distinguishing bacterial from viral infections has mostly been focusing on genome-wide expressions (GWAS). The notion is that gene expression will change upon infections of different pathogens. However, a serological test detection method for pathogens is antibody response. There are many complicating factors that make analysis of antibodies between viral and bacterial infections complex—one of the most important is the study platform.